SIDDHAR THIRUVILAIYAADAL PART 1/2

Jnana Jyothi Amma messaged me a moment ago on SKYPE.

9‎:‎26‎ ‎PM

"From one shanmugam to another shanmugam

‏

When I wanted to go for my shower an hour back the main geyser switch conked and as a result the entire flat earthing took [lce and power out.‏ 

Today being Saturday no shops open after 3 pm‏. 

Even my friend Kaushik is in his hometown...that mysterious electrical shop owner‏. 

I was helpless. Even Ram and his family were out of town. 

My door bell rings.‏

A guy standing outside asks me if I have a spanner to lend him as he is fixing some electrical appliances in the ground floor. I asked him if he was an electrician,‏ he says yes and I hand him the spanner and he asked me why I have not switched on the lights. 

I told him what happened. He asked my permission, went into the bathroom and told me that the entire switch unit has to be changed and told me that he would buy it and fix it.‏

That was 30 mins back.‏ 

I gave him the money. He left the spanner back, went to the shop, bought the switches, fixed it and told me that ... ha ha ha ha hah, again he wanted some water. 

So I gave him and asked him if he wanted the money. Know what he said, "Will collect it later after I finish the ground floor job"

‏

Waiting for 30 minutes, no sign of him. Did not even take the spanner. The reason why he came to my place was to get the spanner.‏ 

I called up the maintenance guys just 5 minutes back and told them that this guy had not collected money. They asked me the name of the person. I told them, Shanmugam.‏ 

They said there is no one by the name Shanmugam and there was no work going on in the ground floor. Today being Saturday the site electricians will not work on week ends.

‏

Now I have got my power back and I got Shanmugam.‏ 

Therefore from one Shanmugam to another Shanmugam, Deiva Magane Shanmugane.‏

Bye, let me have my shower and sit down with out Father. 

Jyothiyin ... Jyothiyin .. Jyothi.‏"

Who did come to her aid?

This is not the first time that a miracle had taken place. Jnana Jyothi Amma has encountered many moments with the Siddhas where they had come to her aid, given her Darshan, and had had a playful moment with her.

Jnana Jyothi Amma had called for a electrician to replace the bulbs in her Chennai home. An electrician turns up and starts working on it. As he works, he picks a chat with Amma asking if she had been to Vadalur. He continued to talk about Ramalinga Adigal and finally asked for some water and left. 

Amma suddenly remembers that she had not paid him his dues and called up his company. They informed her that they have yet to send an electrician over to attend to her needs and added that the replacement bulbs were still at their premises! Who did come to her aid?

She made a journey to Vadalur with Mathi Vanan later.

Jnana Jyothi Amma with Mathi Vanan (far left)

She received yet another invitation to the Nattadreswarar Temple in Erode. This time around it was through the telephone.

On 24 October 2013 Jnana Jyothi Amma sent me the following message on FB.

"At about 10 am IST,  I got a call from a number ..... 111. I do not answer unknown numbers. I ignored it. Again I got the call from the same number twice. Then third time I picked up the call.  A boy's voice." 

"He said "Amma .... How is your leg pain?" 

I asked him who he was and from where he was calling, to which he answered his name was Kandhan. I thought it was Kandhan Gurukal (of Panchesti Agathiyar Temple) and asked him from which number he is calling as the number seems to be different."

"He laughed. Moreover it sounded like a boy's tone." 

"These are the words he told me, "When are you coming to my temple?"

"I answered, thinking it was Kandhan Gurukal, that I couldn't come last week as I had gone over to Malaysia to participate in Agasthyar's pooje in my friends house." 

"He said, "I am aware of that and I gave you Darshan"

"OMG. This took me aback and before I could say anything"

That lad continued thus, "You had come to Sangameshwarar Temple long back and done Tharpana at the Thriveni ... remember?" 

"I told him I do not remember that temple."

"He told me ..... Bhavani ....... with Maheswari."

"Still I could not recollect." 

"He gave me a number ...... a mobile number ..... told me his name was Saravana and asked me to call him NOW and told me that he wants me there and the call got cut. He also told me that the priests are returning soon and asked me to call NOW." 

"I called that number and a man picked up the call and I told him that somebody called me now and gave me this number and I do not know the person on the other side. Without a moment of hesitation he told me, "It must be Lord Murugan himself." 

"I asked him what is the name of this temple and what has it got to do with Thriveni."

"He told me this is Nattadresswarar Temple. I was taken aback and I told him last week my Swamji from Kallar, Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal, had come over with his disciples. He told me he was the person who ferried the group across and told me to come over."

Saravana Gurukal who accompanied us across the Kaveri river to have a Darshan of Nattadresswarar when my family and I were in India last October.

The Nattadresswarar Temple in the middle of the Kaveri river

"He told me to be there by 8 am in the morning so that the Abhishekam could be done."

"I then recollected. Yes, Amma had told me to take Maheswari along with me and go to Thriveni temple, dip my whole body in the Sangamam, ..... Cauvery, Bavani and Amritha. Shan ..... This was 25 years back. I can recollect everything now"

" ...... need to come out of this first .... sweet voice ... a teenager ... he called me Amma ..... which ..... I did not feel anything that time."

"Now on recollecting .... am chocked beyond limits .... I asked him his name .... he said Saravana .... the guy who ferried you people across. All this happened between 10-10.30 am on 24 October 2013."

Jnana Jyothi Amma was contemplating on going to this temple later in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February of next year), but there was suddenly an urgency that she should be there for the Karthigai Deepam festival on 17 November 2013!

She messages me again on FB on 12 November 2013.

"I called up the number what was given to me .. same person picked it up"

I asked, "Saravanan?"

She replies, "No, Senthil, the guy who ferried you across"

She continued on SKYPE to narrate to me the happening. She had called the number given to her earlier by the mysterious caller, the young boy. Amma sensed it was a different voice on the phone. She asks for Saravana but this time the man on the other end addresses himself as Senthil. Immediately he asks Jnana Jyothi Amma why she had not come over yet. The man continues. He lays out the plan. He tells Amma to make her way to a particular hotel once she was in Erode. Someone will take her to Kangayampalaiyam the next day where all arrangements have been made for her to participate in the Abhisekam. The caretakers of the temple will be attending the festivities. She can meet them. She can choose to follow the priests over to the mainland during lunch break or she can have her lunch at the temple. She can participate in the prayers later that evening before she is sent to the Erode bus stand to board the bus back. 

Amma and I were both amazed and puzzled. We could not make sense of the calls and the callers. It was all so mysterious.

Just before she left her home on the night before Deepam on 16 October 2013, Amma gave me a call to say she was leaving. The next day I received a call from her. She told me she was with Agathiyar and was talking to me from his Sanadhi at the Nattadresswarar Temple. She was alone with the senior priest (senior gurukal) at present after having participated in the Abhisekam earlier in the morning.

The senior gurukal upon closing up the temple returns to the banks of Kangayapalaiyam as we left for the temple only to open it up due to the graciousness of Saravana Gurukal and Agathiyar.

On arrival back at home she messages me on FB on 18 October 2013.

"Shan ..... back just now .. time 23.40 ... Monday. Had to postpone my ticket, as I just couldn't make it back the same day. Will either send you a detailed message/ mail or will get on SKYPE after a day or two. I need to take some rest. Lord Muruga gave me his Darshan. Our coolest daddy too."

After having a brief rest she messages me again on 20 October 2013 with this extraordinary spate of events that took place at the Nattadresswarar temple.

"Hello Shan, I have recouped only 50%. It'll take a week or so for me to get completely out from exhaustion. A very intense experience!"

"First let me put to rest the confusion what we had about the call, Saravana and Senthil"

"Saravana (guy who ferried you people across) is the eldest son of that elderly priest (senior gurukal). He says that he did not speak to me on the number I called the first time (what was given to me through a phone call) as he said that was not his number. It's only the second time I called, just two days prior to my going over there he says he picked up my call and confirmed about the Abhishekams what I wanted to perform. When I showed him the number and time of the call, he just laughed and said, "It is Lord Murugan's game."

"There is no one by the name of Senthil at all. When I stressed that the second time I called it was a person Senthil who picked the call, he too stressed emphatically that it was he who spoke to me. Well, I call one number what was given to me and the person on the other end picks up the call on a totally different number!"

She takes us back to the moment of arrival at Erode earlier.

"I reached Erode around 9 pm and to my astonishment I saw two people waiting for me at the destination. They asked me if I was the person coming form Chennai and lived in USA and spelt out my name and they introduced themselves as Mr.Chandrashekar, President of the Temple Committee and Mr.Gandhi, its Secretary. They had made reservations for me in a hotel close by and they accompanied me there and on leaving the hotel told me that the senior gurukal would be accompanying me to the temple and asked me to be on the river bank the next day by 7 am."

"So the next day, I booked a cab and got dropped by the river bank. I saw a very senior priest  (senior gurukal) and a lady standing there waiting for me. I wished him and we both got into the coracle and the lady left. Just as the coracle started moving, this senior gurukal told me that he had been instructed by Lord Murugan the previous night that I would be coming over to perform some rituals and had also instructed him (in this old age) to accompany. After listening to what he had to say, I asked him, "Does Lord Murugan speak to you?"

"He further added that in his lifetime, this is the second time Lord Murugan spoke to him. The first time, he said was when his mother was very ill. That was a number of years back. He repeated that this was the second time. Other times he says that Lord Murugan speaks to him in "gestures", but only twice he heard his voice. He said that Lord Murugan told him, "My daughter will be coming over to his abode and that "She" (myself) had received Dheeksha from Agathiyar directly." My God! My heart jump started. I told him that on 20 October 2011, I got my Dheeksha from "Appa" (Agathiyar). He told me not to disclose this conversation to anyone over there."

"Now we reached the temple shore and we proceeded towards the temple. Immediately he beckoned two priests along with his son Saravana, gave them instructions to start the Abhishekam for Lord Murugan first , then Agathiyar and then Lord Shiva."

"It was at this juncture that the phone calls etc. conversation were discussed, when he told me his name was Saravana etc and all the conversation what I mentioned to you at the start of this mail."

"Since I was instructed to do these Abhishekam on my son's name, I gave them the necessary details like Gothram , Nakshatra and Rasi etc of my son and all the three Ahhishekam got over in an hour and a half."

"There were very few people in the temple and along with the priests and the two committee members, we all went downstairs where the Nivedhyams offered to the Gods were served as breakfast. After breakfast was over , the devotees who came left and only the priests and myself were there. This senior gurukal told me that I can rest on a chair near Agathiyar, as, upstairs would be very calm and peaceful. So I went upstairs and you know where daddy's shrine is right? Just opposite to Lord Shiva's Sanctum."

"It was around 10.30 am and that was the time I called you up and told you that I am all alone with daddy once again with not a soul in sight."

"After making the call to you, I thought I would close my eyes and sit as I was feeling very pleasant. Suddenly out of nowhere, a squirrel jumps on my lap and then jumps inside Agathiyar's Shrine. I was sitting just in front of daddy on a chair with closed eyes. Suddenly I heard a voice coming from inside Agathiyar's Shrine calling me "Magale Magale". Before I could open my eyes, I was instructed not to open. Agathiyar gave me some messages, which I will sending it to as a separate mail".

"There were many rituals going on throughout morning with deep Aradhanas being conducted a number of times. Beautiful sight and I felt very blessed. Sitting in the abode of Lord Murugan and Lord Shiva with Agathiyar, Lord Vishnu and Goddess Amma all around me. I felt that this Jenmam (birth) was over for me that day."

"Around 4 pm, I saw a huge congregation of people coming upstairs and preparations were starting for a massive Yagam a short distance away from Agathiyar's Sanctum. Shan you know the location what I'm meaning, Agathiyar faces Lord Shiva, two different shrines facing each other."

"I asked Saravana the significance of this massive Yagna. He said that every Kartigai Deepam, they conduct this Yagam, when all the temple committee members, the owners/builder of this temple are the only ones allowed and the name of this Homam is "Asthra Homam."

"He said this was done annually on every Deepam day. Agathiyar had instructed the great grand father of the person who built this temple, or rather renovated this temple that this Homan should be done on Karthiga Deepam Day."

"The Yagam started around 4.30 pm and about 30 people were there, which included SKM and his family members, including his grandchildren and the temple committee members and two ministers. It was an intense and massive Yagam and I have never heard nor seen one of this magnitude and intensity. It was performed by Saravana Gurukal."

"The Yagam got over around 6.30 pm and was followed by Abhishekams to Lord Murugan, Goddess Amma and Lord Shivan. That day was also the birthday of SKM's grandson Sarath, He has immense grace and the blessings of God."

"It was during the end of Lord Murugan's Abhishekam that Lord Murugan gave me his "Kazchi" It is not a Darshan he gave me. It was his Kazchi. The Effulgence was BLINDING and I almost fainted. It was just a few seconds and the Effulgence disappeared. This Kazchi was right inside his "Karuvarai" and on top of his head."

"I couldn't stand nor even see anything clearly after that. Everything looked glazed. But somehow, along with the ladies, managed to light the 1008 Deepams which was the custom, before the main Deepam was lit at the Temple Gopuram."

"What a magnificent sight to behold! The air was filled with the chants of Aum Nama Shivaya ... Hara Hara Mahadeva. This locale, the abode of the Gods ... glimmering with the Deepam Lights and the Beaming Gopuram with the Jyothi."

"In the stillness of the night, the only sounds heard were the high pitched tones of the people praising the Lord ... Nattat Ayya ... Nattat Ayya ... Arunachala Ayya ... Aum Nama Shivaya."

"Sarath had also been instructed to do four Abhishekams that day, as it was Astham Nakshatra that day and was his birth star too. Likewise I was also instructed to perform the Abhishekams that day as it was mine and also my son's birth star that day. What a blessing on a Purnima Karthiga Deepam day!"

"Never in my life had I witnessed eight Abhishekams and a massive Yagam, all in one day. Four Abishekams of mine in the morning and four Abishekams of Sarath's in the evening. After the Lighting of the Deepams and the day's last pooja and prayer/chants to Lord Shiva got over, it was almost 8 pm. I was exhausted beyond limits. Downstairs I saw all the people gathering around the senior priest as he was giving some Upadesam and all of us were ushered for the Annadhanam. I begged apology from the senior priest (senior gurukal) that I feel very exhausted and that I would not be able to stay any longer to partake the food as I wanted to return to my hotel room to rest. He understood my condition and immediately ordered some food and sweet meat to be packed and requested Selvaraj Gurukal, an Assistant to Saravana Gurukal to accompany me in the coracle to the other side of the river."

"I sought his blessings  (senior gurukal) and told him that I feel highly honored to be a part of all the heavenly rituals that I could participate today and also thanked him immensely for having taken the pains to wait for me in the morning and to help me cross over."

"This was his reply, "I came to the temple early today as it was Karthigai Deepam. He quickly added with a smile, "Maybe Agathiyar came with you!"

"He blessed me and these were his parting words to me, "You can come here anytime you want. This is your home. Your father is here."

"So, Mr. Chandrashekar, the President of the committee came along with me helping me to walk and in a moment Selvaraj Gurukal got the food and some fruits and came along with us. All I knew was I just entered the coracle and lay down as I felt extremely sick. After a couple of minutes, Selvaraj Gurukal woke me up and helped me to get out of the coracle and helped me to my car."

"All through the crossing of the river, I felt my head was placed on the lap of a woman. On alighting, I asked Selvaraj Gurukal where was the lady who was travelling with us . He replied that there was no lady who came along with us. He said, "Amma, only three of us were there. Me, you and the ferry man".

This morning I called up Selvaraj Gurukal to thank him for all the services he rendered to me during my trip there. His reply was thus, "Amma I was serving Lord Shiva, Lord Murugan, Agathiyar and Goddess Ambal. I see all of them in you. Please come back again."

"I asked him if the senior gurukal accompanied me in the morning. He said I came alone. I further asked him, "But inside the temple he was giving you all the instructions for the pooja?"

"He replied, "Yes Guruswamy was giving us the instructions, but you entered the temple alone."

"Now who was the senior priest  (senior gurukal) who came along with me in the morning? Who was the lady who was standing with him and she did not enter the coracle?"

"I cried to my heart's content and thanked Agathiyar, Lord Murugan, Lord Shiva and Goddess Amma for bestowing me with their grace and helping me to or rather inviting me to be in their abode and to be with / among them."

"With utmost humility and with knees bend, I bow to the Great Cosmic and Celestial Powers, without their Grace, I could not and would not have been where I am today."

"Salutations and prostrations to my dearest daddy Agathiyar who had been been and is still a guiding force, guiding and protecting me all the way with his presence."

"Arul Gnana Jyotheye Agathin Jyothi Thani Perum Kadavule Agatheesar Aavaar"

After visiting Palani Murugan, she was resting her aching feet when comes a lad, asking if her feet still ached. He takes out something tucked around his waist. It was a Vel. He starts to rub the Vel across her leg when she pulls her legs back upon realizing it was a Vel. He leaves the Vel behind and runs up the stairs of Palani and disappears out of sight. As Jnana Jyothi Amma enters the car, she realizes that the Vel she was carrying is no more with her!

Jnana Jyothi Amma with Balakrishna Menon who had gracefully provided for her stay at Palani

Jnana Jyothi Amma with Dr Ram Supramaniam after having shed their hair at Palani

Who did come to her aid?

Again at Palani, she hears a knock on the door. She opens the door to come face to face with a very old Sadhu or Holy man. She invites him in. He enters the premises with a loud laugh. He starts talking about the Mystical Rudraksham that was at Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal's Ashram the Sri Agathiyar Sri Thava Murugar Gnana Peedham in Kallar. 

The mystical 1 faced Rudraksha, 1 1/2 feet in length and weighing 7 kg now worshiped as a Shivalingam at Kallar

Tavayogi holding up the Rudraksham

A photo taken of the Rudraksham immediately upon receiving it

He then asks for water to quenched his thirst. He takes a sip and leaves the premises. Just before he leaves, he surprises her by giving her a peck on her cheek ... the very thing that she had done to Agathiyar in the form of the three feet granite statue at Tavayogi's Peedham! This statue is now installed in the jungles of Kallar and is known as Mulasthaanam.

After he leaves she realizes that whatever remaining amount of water she had given him to drink had turned into honey!

Who did come to bless her?

Who could forget the amazing play of lights or Jyothi that Agathiyar showed the world through Jnana Jyothi Amma at Kalyana Theertam?

Agathiyar showed me some of his play or Thiruvilaiyadal in India and promised me there were more to come. True to his words he has been showing me more of his Thiruvilayadal through his darling daughter Jnana Jyothi Amma. I am very happy for her.